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For me it would have to be RotF Sideways, followed by Sideswipe.
I did have some toys as a kid, but I wasn't really into the collecting side of it.

The the second film came out, and the toys looked really REALLY good.
Especially Sideways. Bought him, then decided he needed someone to be displayed with. And it just kept on going from there.

(The story is a little more detailed in my collection thread: http://www.seibertron.com/energonpub/va-al-s-bi-national-collection-t80445.php)

Money!

I was an exceedingly frugal kid, so I never really had any Transformers growing up. My parents wouldn't buy them for me and I didn't want to spend my own money on them. I had a grand total of 4 growing up. Two I bought in late high school for a quarter each (Universe Razorclaw and Armada Smokescreen) and two I got accidentally in elementary school - I had purchased a small bag of toy cars at a Boy Scout fundraiser for $1 and discovered there were Transformers in it when I got home. But at that age I was a Beast Wars kid and didn't give two hoots about G1 Hubcap and G2 Hook. I threw them in the toy bin and forgot about them for years. Lol.

The first Bay movie is what got me into collecting, oddly enough. I pulled my money together right before it premiered and purchased a few figures (Barricade, Ratchet and Jazz, at first, followed by Bee, Blackout and entry mode Starscream after the movie aired). I was in college though, so I was really very limited in what I could spend. Absolutely fell in love with Animated when it aired too, but didn't own any figures while in school.

After graduating and finding a full time job, I started buying 2-4 figures a month (mostly deluxes, but there were a few voyagers). My first focus was Animated, despite having begun (casually) with the Bay-verse. Things have grown from there.

Great responses folks! Awesome to see the similarities in everyone's stories.
I was hoping to hear if anyone's went through what I did mentally though. (I think my OP was too long for most to read LOL)
Did anyone else feel weird for buying toys as an adult at first?
We're you acutely aware of being watched by other adults as you browsed and sifted through toy isles?
We're you concerned about what people you knew might thing if they came over and saw a bunch of figures standing about your home?
How did it make you feel, what did you do about it and how did you finally come to understand that it wasn't crazy for an adult to collect figures?
Or was I the only one who worried about what others thought so much and worried about being "normal" so much that I questioned my sanity when the desire to buy toys as an adult out of the blue hit me so hard?
Thanks folks!

Megs for pres wrote:We're you acutely aware of being watched by other adults as you browsed and sifted through toy isles?

No, not really. I'm quite comfortable doing so. I'm up to date on what's released so a quick 2 second glance at the aisle is more than enough.

Megs for pres wrote:We're you concerned about what people you knew might thing if they came over and saw a bunch of figures standing about your home?

I've got a room full of the stuff. Can't hide that they know I'm a fan and that they're my guilty pleasure (the MISB stuff). My GF's even bought me a few.

Megs for pres wrote:How did it make you feel, what did you do about it and how did you finally come to understand that it wasn't crazy for an adult to collect figures?

I've always thought it normal. I only started collecting 10-11 years ago, even then I thought not to let people's opinion's affect my decision making

Megs for pres wrote:Or was I the only one who worried about what others thought so much and worried about being "normal" so much that I questioned my sanity when the desire to buy toys as an adult out of the blue hit me so hard?
Thanks folks!

Enjoy the ride. It's in your blood now

I was drunk ...

How it all began, I read the Marvel Transformers comics when I was little child but did not have much toys. But Grimlock was always a favorite of mine and many years later when I was really drunk I logged in to Ebay and found the MP Grimlock and just had to buy him. And that continued the collecting.

I saw a picture of masterpiece Skywarp with Coronation set in 2010 it was all over.

I think it would have to be the Dreamwave comics that ignited my collecting habit as an adult. Had bought a few Beast Wars, Beast Machines, RID, etc over the years, but nothing much. DW's comics brought back the G1 characters, and in my opinion were the first step on the road to getting Hasbro all that sweet sweet Michael Bay movie money.
I dabbled with the AEC lines, mostly getting what I could at sales. Managed to get a couple of Classics, but wasn't lucky to have too much spare cash to go crazy on them. Once I started getting more money, I went back and looked at what I'd missed. I think Henkei Megatron was the first toy I bought off a web-store and things just started escalating from there.

For me it was in 2001 when I was 5 and flipping through the TV channels on a saturday morning and found a comercial for the RID show. At first I didn't pay attention to the show until I saw Sky-Byte turn into a great white and I was sold on the show. Then the next time I went to my local Tru, which unfourtantly closed back right in the middle of the Cybertron line , and saw transformers toys. I instantly searched for sky-byte but only found the Scourge and X-Brawn spychanger 2 pack, and later got Wedge because it was a friends b-day but I found out that he didn't like them, so I was able to keep Wedge.